Digging Deep with Robert Plant

We're back! A new season of Digging Deep! New songs, new stories and new journeys to take. Season 2 finds us once again in the company of Robert and this time we visit the album 'Mighty ReArranger' from 2005. There's lots of questions for us: What song will he pick? What's the rhythm of a racing camel? And who is The Mighty ReArranger? As Robert himself says, "There's stuff to say..." This season will be accompanied by a limited edition vinyl single box set which collects 16 tracks from across his solo career across eight 7” singles. Pre-order now: https://lnk.to/RP_DiggingDeep_Vinyl

Robert discusses 'Ohio', recorded for Patty Griffin's 2013 album 'American Kid'.

One of the joys of this series is that we span the whole of Robert’s career so far. We also get to enjoy the rare pleasure of the man himself talking about Led Zeppelin. It’s always an honour and an enlightening experience. This episode tackles a song from their legendary fourth album. A beautiful song, a wonderful lyric and a haunting double vocal from a folk music heroine (we also find out what Robert calls the album - IV? Runes? Untitled? Four Symbols? Or what?).

In 2010 Robert assembled a new group - The Band of Joy - and recorded an album of the same name. It included cover versions old and new by artists like Richard Thompson, Townes Van Zandt and Milton Mapes. One highlight is an interpretation of the song ‘Monkey’ by the band Low. This dark, swampy, mysterious recording is the focus of this episode… “Turning way down low, telling me things I do not know I know. Tonight you will be mine, tonight the monkey dies..”

In this episode we get to know the title track from Robert’s most recent album from 2017. Ably supported by The Sensational Space Shifters, it's another whirling blend of sounds and atmospheres, but lyrically it's a mysterious one. There’s definitely a romantic heart within the song somewhere, but who is it beating for? And why?

You’re probably familiar with the idea of musicians (especially Robert) describing their career as a journey, but sometimes songs go on travels themselves. Since being recorded for Robert’s second solo album, 1983’s The Principle of Moments, this track has surfaced on soundtracks, compilations and computer games, and even though the sound and production is a million miles away from his recent work, it’s become something of a favourite for many, many people…